Manchester Odyssey Of The Mind Teams Are A Hit At Connecticut State Finals

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April 22, 2013|Debbie Streeter, Illing Middle School, Manchester

For the third year in a row Manchester has an Odyssey of the Mind team that has qualified for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in May. This year a team from Illing came in first place in their division and will be World Finalists for a second straight year. The winning team participated in a problem called "It's How You Look at It" in which they created an original, eight minute performance involving two main characters who exhibit behaviors considered "odd" and "normal" at different points in the performance. They also had to include a creative scene change, humor in the performance, and a "meter" that measured the degree of "oddness" of the characters' behaviors. The team consisted of seven eighth grade students from Illing: Will Johnson, Riley Landon, Connor O'Neill, Armando Osorio, Leila Rezai, Angela Simonetti, and Gabby Stonoha.

Manchester High School also had a strong team in the "It's How You Look at It" high school division. These six students- Josh Haslett, Maheen Khalid, Mushirah Majid, Tyson Murphy, Kyon Russell, and David Walker- all freshmen at MHS, came in third place in their division.

Iling's other team came in a very solid fifth place in their division in the problem "ARTchitecture: The Musical". They were required to create an eight minute performance in which they built a replica of an architectural structure built between 1000 and 1600 A.D. Their performance also had to include three original works of art that disappear and re-appear at some point during the performance, two original songs, and original choreographed movement. This team consisted of seven seventh and eighth grade Illing students- Antonio De Leon, Aysa Dunne, Zach Geer, Taylor Keyt, Gavin Morrison, Carina Rosa, Max Toth- and was the only Manchester team to win first place in their division's Spontaneous problem. This is a second part of the competition (added to each team's final score) in which a team solves a problem on the spot without knowing in advance the type of problem they will receive. Manchester is building a name for itself at Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind State Finals by consistently putting together polished, risk-taking, humorous, and wildly original performances each year. The teams were coached this year by David Lee, Ryan Parker, and Jessica Schmidt, all teachers at Illing.